Isa savers promised two-week transfers

Banks and building societies are to speed up cash Isa transfers following a Money Mail campaign. Under new guidelines they will all adhere to a five-step programme which could see transfer times cut to around two weeks.

Quick change: Now savers can benefit from quicker cash Isa transfer times

Thousands of savers have seen their cash Isa money vanish for months as banks and building societies drop the baton in the transfer process.

Often savers have no idea where their money is, as each bank or building society blames the other.

In the meantime, savers miss out on top interest rates and may have no access to their money.

Money Mail highlighted how three in particular - Nationwide, Lloyds TSB and Abbey - were responsible for most delays among our readers. This led Nationwide to stop taking new transfers until the problem was solved.

Building Societies Association director-general Adrian Coles says: 'Building societies are aware of the very real problems faced by some customers transferring Isas. We believe these guidelines are a good first step to simplify the process, improve communication and ensure the customer gets a better level of service.'

Banks and building societies admit one key problem has been that they have often failed to send the correct information to each other. They have also failed to chase up transfer requests that have been ignored.

Under the new guidelines, they will be able to use a standard form to make sure that vital details are not omitted.

Savers who want to transfer should go to their new Isa provider, which will fill in the form and be responsible for handling any problems. They should not have to contact their old Isa provider.

The form should be passed to the bank's main processing centre within two days, and within another four days the request should be passed to your old provider.

They then have ten business days to send a cheque to your new provider.

If your existing provider is likely to miss this deadline, they will let you know. And if they don't send the cheque, your new provider should automatically chase them up.

While these guidelines should help to avoid some of the chaos of recent months, they are not ideal, because they also allow the new provider five days to credit the cheque to your new account, which means savers could miss interest.

And the fact that they are only guidelines means banks and building societies can ignore them and not face

any sanctions. The next step will be to ditch old-fashioned and slow methods of transferring money. British Bankers' Association chief executive Angela Knight says: 'The industry has taken decisive action to resolve some of the immediate issues facing customers.

'Now we are moving our focus to the longer term to ensure the Isa transfer process is robust and efficient for customers.' John Brasington, chairman of the Tax Incentivised Savings Association, adds: 'These measures provide a welcome impact on the transfer process.

'The next step is to investigate how electronic solutions can ensure further improvements. A working party has been established to develop a suitable process.'